Speculation was rife that superstar Salman Khan recommended Ali’s name to direct the third instalment of the popular thriller franchise “Race”. The first two were helmed by filmmaker duo Abbas-Mustan.

Director Ali Abbas Zafar (source: Getty)

Director Ali Abbas Zafar says he is right now only focusing on his next “Tiger Zinda Hai” and not doing any other film amidst reports that he will also helm “Race 3”.

Speculation was rife that superstar Salman Khan recommended Ali’s name to direct the third instalment of the popular thriller franchise “Race”. The first two were helmed by filmmaker duo Abbas-Mustan.

When asked about this, Ali told, “Right now, I can’t say anything about anything. The only film I am doing is Tiger Zinda Hai.”

Ali made his debut with Katrina KaifImran Khan starrer “Mere Brother ki Dulhan” but tasted phenomenal success with his last release, “Sultan”.

The director will again team up with the 50-year-old “Dabangg” star in “Tiger Zinda Hai” and Ali says the duo don’t have any ego problems between them.

“He (Salman) is very open to ideas. My relationship with him is more like a younger brother. He has so much of experience. We don’t have any director-actor ego running between us. He can very openly say what he feels, I can tell him what I feel.”

Ali says he was genuinely touched by the efforts Salman put in his performance in “Sultan”.

“I think it’s a great combination. I really think he pushed himself very hard in Sultan. Whether it was his training, physical transformation, the Haryanvi language he got. All those things kind of make you feel special that there is an actor giving 100 percent to you.”

When asked if he would be working only with Salman henceforth, Ali said, “I would love to work with a lot of other people and even he (Salman) would also like to take a break from me.”